Police continue to hunt Kingsclere wallaby

A LARGE marsupial more usually found in Australia has been giving police officers the run-around in Kingsclere.

On Tuesday, police officers were tracking a wallaby after five reported sightings of the animal.

The wallaby was spotted near Union Lane at around 8.20am. Officers from Tadley police station confirmed the sighting before contacting the RSPCA, who say wallabies are established in the wild and should be left alone unless injured or in distress.

Calie Rydings, of the RSPCA, said: “What people might not be aware of is that wallabies are established in the wild in Britain. There have been established populations in this country since the 1940s. There is no need to be alarmed.”

However, the wallaby was not the only unusual mammal in the local area earlier this week.

Tadley Police later tweeted: “We have also now found a white llama in Baughurst! Do you know who owns this white with a Brown spot – we are not joking!”

It transpired that the animal was actually a wandering white alpaca, which has since been reunited with its owner.

If anyone has information about an escaped wallaby, they should contact Tadley Safer Neighbourhoods team on 101.

Groups of wallabies became established in this country after some escaped from Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire in the 1940s.

The wallabies in Scotland live on Inchconnachan, an island in Loch Lomond.